Easy Sopapillas

It all started the other night when I made Chinese egg rolls for dinner. Carlos wandered into the kitchen and observed me for a moment before joking, “Those are egg rolls? … They’re not even round. They look like tamales.”

My failed attempt at Chinese egg rolls. This is one of the “tamales chinos” before frying. They weren’t the right shape, but they tasted good.

I kicked Carlos out of the kitchen for that, although I had to admit, these look more like “tamales chinos” than egg rolls. The important thing is they tasted good, and thinking about Latin American food while making Chinese food sparked an idea.

I watched how the egg rolls puffed a little and became crispy as they fried in the oil and I thought, “I wonder if these egg roll wrappers would work for sopapillas?”

There was only one way to find out, so I gave it a try and success! Here’s how you make sopapillas [pronounced so-pah-pee-yas] from egg roll wrappers. (Step-by-step photos below!)

Easy Egg roll Wrapper Sopapillas

Ingredients:

Egg roll wrappers
Canola oil
Cinnamon and sugar

Directions:

1. Take a few egg roll wrappers and cut into quarters.
2. Separate the layers into individual squares.
3. Heat enough canola oil to cover the bottom of a frying pan or large pot.
4. Place a few squares into the oil so that they’re not touching, (you will have to cook them in batches.)
5. Flip squares over so they brown on each side.
6. Remove to paper towels to drain but sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar right away, before they cool.
7. Repeat until you have fried all the squares.

Now you can serve these drizzled in honey, or with vanilla ice cream topped with whatever you like – Some suggestions: chocolate syrup, cajeta (dulce de leche), whipped cream, cherries. (When served with vanilla ice cream, it tastes like fried ice cream.)

Note: There are many types of sopapillas (also spelled: sopaipilla, sopaipa, and supaipa) found in Latin America and they go by other names such as torta frita, cachanga, Kreppel and chipá cuerito. This version most closely resembles the American Southwest dessert version which you find in Mexican restaurants in the United States.